Sky Force: credit where credit is due

[Murmur 3,941]

11 hours ago, Noel said:

I'm still using REX Texture Direct and Essentials w/ Active Sky Next, and until someone figures how to get some real COLOR into clouds, like I see every day in the real world, I'm not seeing enough to change anything.   This IMO is the biggest deficiency by far in cloud textures and behaviors.  Beyond this, it's gotten quite decent, all except this is a glaringly missing piece.  From a few days ago here in Northern California.

TrueSky could be the answer (of course the intensity of red is just a matter of tuning colors, since as you can see the shadow play is very similar to your pic):

 

[Noel 4,487]

4 hours ago, Murmur said:

TrueSky could be the answer (of course the intensity of red is just a matter of tuning colors, since as you can see the shadow play is very similar to your pic):

 

Yes I agree it has potential thanks--it looks like something LM would have to purchase for P3D.

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

3 hours ago, Noel said:

Yes I agree it has potential thanks--it looks like something LM would have to purchase for P3D.

I thought the same thing initially, but after using FSW (which has TrueSky), I really don't see that the advantages of it outweigh the performance hit if all the features are enabled to the max. Maybe the next generation of nVidia cards will change that.

[Noel 4,487]

29 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

I thought the same thing initially, but after using FSW (which has TrueSky), I really don't see that the advantages of it outweigh the performance hit if all the features are enabled to the max. Maybe the next generation of nVidia cards will change that.

Yes, easy to imagine how things ought to be, but that dang hardware holds it all back ;o)

Could be there's a smarter algorithm to apply to existing approaches to building believable skies that will allow programmers to to display colors like I am hoping for some day w/o the need for massive processing overhead.   It seems to me if I can see various shades of gray on the clouds I see now, adding color to them *should* be possible w/ very little penalty.   I guess TrueSky's approach to modeling clouds is fundamentally different, but apparently involves big processing overhead for this piece.

[bean_sprout 1,201]

Had SF since day one but still no Wx engine.  What's the trick? (yes I read the documentation)

Regards

bs

[gboz 157]

22 minutes ago, bean_sprout said:

Had SF since day one but still no Wx engine.  What's the trick? (yes I read the documentation)

Regards

bs

Someone mentioned having to select the rex weather theme in the p3d weather settings dialog to get his working.

Otherwise I assume you have installed outside the programs folder with firewall and av exclusions?

gb.

[virtualstuff 754]

15 hours ago, GSalden said:

I am very happy for you all guys , but imho from all screenshots I have seen nothing beats the ASP4 + ASCA + EnvTex combo regarding matching the real world weather look ( looking outside the window )...

Enjoy 

Well I actually agree and I ddn't see the following with the SF + ASP4 combo in all the shots plus not seen on youtube stuff:

calvus rain shaft
Tornado / funnel
Visible wall cloud
Visible rain shaft
Roll clouds

etc...

[FlyBaby 659]

15 hours ago, GSalden said:

I am very happy for you all guys , but imho from all screenshots I have seen nothing beats the ASP4 + ASCA + EnvTex combo regarding matching the real world weather look ( looking outside the window )...

Enjoy 

I also have ASP4 + ASCA.

SF3D looks a little better in some of the pictures than my setup (especially @Neptune pics).

How do you use EnvTex to enhance the Hifi combo? Can you use envtex with hifi automatically (dynamic loading)?

 

[onebob 125]

1 hour ago, bean_sprout said:

Had SF since day one but still no Wx engine.  What's the trick? (yes I read the documentation)

Regards

bs

[mike stryczek 23]

17 hours ago, GSalden said:

I am very happy for you all guys , but imho from all screenshots I have seen nothing beats the ASP4 + ASCA + EnvTex combo regarding matching the real world weather look ( looking outside the window )...

Enjoy 

++

[bean_sprout 1,201]

1 hour ago, onebob said:

No cigar or P3D4 crashes out.

[Dirk98 354]

I bought SF3D last Thursday and I haven't been able to proceed past Step 1 - Registration screen. I wrote to their support and on their forum in a thread with the similar problem that came up with the latest update as I understand..

So no credit from me.

Annoying, isn't it?

 

[Virtpilot 151]

I am really on the fence with this one. Having watched some Youtube videos and they really are very good looking stuff indeed. My main question and concern is: how is the performance compared to the ASCA clouds? Especially in thick clouds and overcast situations. At the moment I´m using 512 dxt ASCA clouds and I´m quite happy with them.

Regards

Virtpilot 

[Mochi 82]

13 hours ago, awf said:

Well I actually agree and I ddn't see the following with the SF + ASP4 combo in all the shots plus not seen on youtube stuff:

calvus rain shaft
Tornado / funnel
Visible wall cloud
Visible rain shaft
Roll clouds

etc...

What I want to see too - So far I havn't seen anything that the marketing blurb from REX was depicting. Was it all 'enhanced' in the post processing....? I am happy if people can prove this skepticism completely wrong with awesome footage like REX shows in the promo vides!

[Nyxx 6,993]

2 hours ago, Virtpilot said:

I am really on the fence with this one. Having watched some Youtube videos and they really are very good looking stuff indeed. My main question and concern is: how is the performance compared to the ASCA clouds? Especially in thick clouds and overcast situations. At the moment I´m using 512 dxt ASCA clouds and I´m quite happy with them.

Regards

Virtpilot 

2 Users on here report a performance hit with overcast. B77ER (Eric) and another guy, forget his name. No other reports on here i can remember.. I have found that unlike when running ASCA skies or using Rex soft clouds I can now run AS with cloud draw set to 140 min and max cloud draw set to the max 250 nm. Even with full overcast my fps never drop below my locked 25. So I find performance very good, I dont get more fps than before I just seem to not lose any that's worth talking about even with extreme settings.

The vis this day was good and looking towards the UK at FL300+ you can see clouds draw out to the horizon. You can even see the curve of the earth! drawn with clouds.

15 hours ago, FlyBaby said:

How do you use EnvTex to enhance the Hifi combo? Can you use envtex with hifi automatically (dynamic loading)?

This is not a guide on Envtex but just how to use ASCA+Envtex for dynamic skies.

As for people drawing conclusion from screenshots. That's fine, but seeing it on your own screen is a different matter. Coming from ASCA>ASCA+ Envtex>ASCA+rex soft clouds. AS+SF is a new level. That opinion is from first hand experience not formed from screenshots. Also if I have found AS+ASCA to be better I would have bins SF and gone back to ASCA and that would have been that. Would not have been the first time i've given something a try and bined it after seeing it for myself.